1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink ribbon assembly, and in particular to an ink ribbon assembly for use with a printing device.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a thermal transcription printer device prints characters, pictures, images, and the like, based on supplied image data by thermal-transcribing ink. The ink may be a dye applied on one surface of an ink ribbon (hereinafter referred to as an ink side of the ribbon) and thereafter onto printing paper. Such a printer typically includes a device which directly applies transcription heat to the ribbon by using a thermal head, or which emits laser light onto a ribbon to generate transcription heat by light-to-heat conversion.
There are heat sublimating and heat fusing types of ink ribbons employed for such a thermal transcription printer as shown in FIG. 18, each of which is divided into a tricolor type comprising yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C), a four-color type comprising the above three colors and black (Bk), and so on, in accordance with the desired colors of ink.
As described above, there are many types of ink ribbons and printing conditions. For example, the driving voltage applied to a thermal head differs between the heat sublimating ink ribbon and the heat fusing ink ribbon, so that, in the case where a single printer device uses a plurality of types of ink ribbons, the operating mode of the printer device must be switched to a mode corresponding to the type or classification of ink ribbon to be used each time.
As shown in FIG. 19, a conventional ink ribbon assembly is shown having a ring 3 which is rotatably provided at one end of a supply spool 2 of an ink ribbon 1 and moreover, a classification code of the ink ribbon 1 is recorded on the peripheral surface of the ring 3 by a hot stamp in bar code. This classification code is read using an inexpensive reflex sensor at the printer device side to automatically switch the operating mode to the corresponding mode in accordance with the results read out.
In this technique, since the operating mode of the printer device is automatically switched to the corresponding mode in accordance with the ink ribbon used, mismatches between the operating mode of the printer device and the ink ribbon are generally prevented.
However, even in the case where ink ribbons are the same type, colors of ink are apt, in general, to change slightly with every production lot, so that the color balance and density of printed characters, pictures, and images may be slightly different even in the case of using ink ribbons of the same type.
Accordingly, to prevent such a change in the color balance, density and the like of printed images, data indicative of the production variances of individual ink colors of the ink ribbon to be used (hereinafter, referred to as production variance data) is initially given to a printer device or to a host computer connected to the printer device and image data supplied based on the production variance data is corrected (hereinafter, referred to as variance correction) to perform the printing.
In this case, as production variance data about individual colors of an ink ribbon assembly to be given to the printer device or the like is ascertained, the production variance of individual colors is digitalized and written on the surface of the packing case for the ink ribbon to allow a user to input these numerical values to the printer device in using the ink ribbon.
According to this method, however, it is necessary for the user to input the production variance data of individual colors to the printer when exchanging an ink ribbon, so that there is a problem of difficulty of use.
Additionally, in this method, if the input of the production variance data is lost or forgotten, the variance correcting processing is performed based on the preceding inputted production variance data, thus causing a problem in that the actual production variance of individual colors and the variance correcting processing of the printer are mismatched and the color balance, density or the like of printed images worsen because of the mismatched variance correcting processing. In addition, a similar problem occurs where the packing case for the ink ribbon is lost or missing.
In another conventional method for providing production variance data about individual colors of an ink ribbon to the printer, the production variance data is recorded, for example, on the peripheral surface of a ring 3 attached to the aforementioned supply spool 2 (FIG. 19) together with the classification code, by a hot stamp.
However, when using a hot stamp, it is difficult to secure sufficient recording capacity for the production variance data of individual colors to be recorded. Moreover, the case of compulsorily recording the production variance data of individual colors by using a hot stamp requires making hot-stamp blocks for every production of individual ink ribbons and of exchanging the blocks for every production lot, so that there is a problem in production efficiency.
Therefore, if the correction data for correcting the production variance of individual ink colors of ink ribbons can be given to the printer device without being inputted by the user and without using a hot stamp or the like, convenience of operation can be remarkably improved for the user and production efficiency can be improved.